


but if you close your eyes

by cloudlesslysky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Healer Draco Malfoy, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Open Ending, Post-Canon, Wartime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24234484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudlesslysky/pseuds/cloudlesslysky
Summary: The New Magic Order is trying to take over Wizarding Britain. They're not the Death Eaters, but they're not any better either.The lines of alliance have shifted, but Harry is still on the front lines working tirelessly to stop them.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 93
Collections: HD Wireless 2020





	but if you close your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Jen (p1013) for helping me get the grammar and spelling up to snuff!
> 
> This was written for "Pompeii" by Bastille, and the title comes from the song's lyrics.

Harry limps down the long stone pathway, taking a right when he needs to, slowly navigating the maze-like innards of the cave system that the resistance is hiding in. He's tired and injured, but not so much that he can't make his way back to base.

Unfortunately, he's almost the only one of his group to survive. He _is_ the only one to return walking on his own two legs.

He had hoped that they would have learned from the Second Wizarding War... from the second time Voldemort rose. But it seems that they're almost doomed to forever repeat these horrible patterns of some bloody dark lord rising and demanding unspeakable things and much of the population just falling in line and the Ministry caving beneath the demands.

Well, that's not perhaps entirely accurate or fair. But this is the second time the Ministry entirely fails to ensure that it does not fall to corruption or to the hands of the “dark lord” that is trying to enslave the wizarding population of Britain.

The New Magic Order may not be out to kill all Muggles, but they're still little better than the Death Eaters. They just place their virulent hatred on _anyone_ who doesn’t agree with their rhetoric.

The lines have shifted, and Harry finds himself allied with people he never would have expected. Of course, it's been enough years since the war that some of those relationships have changed dramatically in between. And aside from being allied with former enemies, he is, quite unfortunately and horribly, on the opposite side of people he loves and respects.

He shakes his head and sighs. Draco is waiting for him, and Harry is positively _aching_ to see his husband. That ache is worse than anything he feels from his injuries.

This time around, they are taking no chances when it comes to their base of operations. Hermione is the Secret Keeper, and even besides that, they have additional warding as well as the cave system itself. This time they won't lose it, not like with Grimmauld Place. It is especially important since it's not just a base of operations; it's a safe house and a place where they keep many of their non-combatants and children. It needs to stay safe. Losing the Cavern, as they call it, would be devastating. Not just because of the lives lost when it comes to combatants, but also because of the children who will no doubt die in the struggle.

He reaches the entrance and swiftly casts Mufflatio. Even though he is sure that he hasn't been followed, he's still not taking any chances. He holds his wand to the bracelet he wears, and whispers the password to activate the Protean charm in it.

He swiftly engraves the message—including his codename—asking to be given entrance. There is the emergency entrance, of course, which he would have been able to Apparate to. But that one is also heavily guarded and not some place to abuse for a swifter return to base. They only use that if they're critically injured, and will likely not make it otherwise. Like Allison… Merlin, Harry hopes she’s okay.

The large stone wall slides open, and Harry's is greeted by the lovely sight of a tired but happy looking Hermione Granger. He knows that there are others around, hiding, just to make sure that there isn't someone who isn't supposed to be there trying to sneak in alongside Harry.

“It's so good to see you, Harry,” she says and waves him inside. “When you went over time, we really started to worry. And considering the state Allison arrived in, I assume things went... awry.” She looks sad now, and how he knows why. Thomas and Jonathan, who went with Harry, didn't return. At least Allison managed to Apparate to the emergency entrance—at least Harry _hopes_ she made it and didn’t end up somewhere else or Splinching herself.

“How's Allison? Did she make it? "Harry asks as the door slides shut behind him.

"She's all right. She got here in time, and Draco really is good at what he does.”

Harry smiles at that; it's a bit of an understatement. You don't become the Head of the Spell Damage department at age twenty-five if you're not _very_ good at what you do.

“How is he? And Teddy?”

“They're both fine; Narcissa and Lucius have been helping Draco with Teddy now that Draco has become more busy healing people.”

Harry nods.

The fact that he's on the same side as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and on the opposite side from Andromeda Tonks, is probably among the worst and weirdest things about this whole thing. He still can't believe that Andromeda sided with the New Magic Order.

At least they got Teddy out before she joined them. He still can't really believe that she did, despite everything. She lost her husband and daughter and even her son-in-law last time, and Harry wonders if that somehow affected her decision. He wonders if she thinks joining the NMO is somehow going to make sure she doesn't lose anyone this time. Though, arguably, she's already lost everyone, because the rest of her family are part of the Rebellion.

Harry isn’t, unfortunately, the only one who's lost family over this. Neville's grandmother and his wife Hannah's entire family sided with the NMO. Though at least Neville's Uncle didn't.

They finally make it to the debriefing room, and Harry takes a long-awaited seat with a loud groan. His leg really hurts and he feels generally bruised and exhausted, but the information is important enough that he needs to debrief before he goes to sleep _and_ before he gets treatment. He knows it’s nothing life-threatening, so it can wait.

Kingsley, Ron, and Lavender Brown step inside behind Hermione. They take their own seats by the table and look at Harry with grave eyes.

“So, what's the situation?" Kingsley asks.

“McGonagall's got Hogwarts on lockdown, and the NMO can't get in. She's on our side, and the students are well aware of it. She's locked down all forms of outside communication, and only trusted house elves are allowed to leave the grounds at all at this point. Hogwarts is essentially another safe place for us to go, if we absolutely need it.”

His friends all breathe out loud sighs of relief, and Harry understands them. He was worried that McGonagall would have sided with the NMO and that they would have to fight her too… Not to mention somehow stage a break-in of Hogwarts to save the students.

“And they still have Pomfrey, correct?" Ron asks, eyes intent.

Harry nods. “She remains the Matron of Hogwarts, and she has expressed that she is on our side, too. A few of the teachers have been forced to leave the school, due to... Different allegiances. But that's neither here nor there. The most important players are luckily on our side.”

Kingsley nods with a sigh.

“Who have we lost?” Lavender asks. “Among the teachers, I mean."

“The new Potions Professor turned out to be an avid fan of the NMO according to McGonagall, Professor Binns has actually passed on to the other side and no longer remains as a ghost on the grounds, and finally, Sybill Trelawney was forced to leave the school after she started claiming that the NMO are correct and that they would win.”

“Bad news, but they could have been worse. We _feared_ worse." Hermione concludes, making a new note on some parchment she has in front of her.

“So what happened on the mission? You lost two people and Allison was in a terrible state when she arrived. Not to mention that I can see that you're not exactly unharmed yourself, Harry.” Lavender’s eyes are narrowed.

“An ambush; I think they were expecting us to go to Hogwarts. Possibly as a retaliation for the fact that they themselves can't go there. If the Potions Professor is on the NMO’s side, he would likely have told them that Hogwarts is not.”

Kingsley nods.

“But we're lucky that we at least have Hogwarts, considering that the NMO managed to lock down all of St. Mungo's and kidnap most of the healers.” Harry can't really describe how relieved he is that on just that day, Draco had gone home early and thus escaped capture.

He doesn't even want to consider what the NMO would have done to him otherwise. Possibly used him in a trap, tortured him for information, or even killed him as an example. All because he's married to Harry.

Harry isn’t sure he would make it through this if he didn't have Draco by his side, if he didn't have Draco’s love. It's all bad enough as it is, if he’d had to go through it mostly alone like last time...

“Get yourself some healing, and some sleep. We are going to have to plan our next steps carefully. We can't let the NMO gain more ground. We can't be sure how much longer the Ministry will hold out, if you could call what they're doing holding out. But at least they haven't been entirely overtaken the way they were during Voldemort's second attempt to rise to power. Yet.” Ron gives Harry a knowing look; he likely knows that Harry wants to see his husband more than anything else right now.

He nods at the rest of them before he heaves himself out of his chair and makes his way out of the meeting room.

  


* * *

  


Harry presses Draco’s slender body to his own and buries his face in Draco's neck. There's nothing he misses more during missions than holding his husband in his arms.

Draco pulls back and strokes his hands over Harry's face, pushing back his hair and pressing a kiss to his lips.

“Thank Merlin you're safe,” Draco murmurs against his lips before pulling in into another kiss.

When they finally part, Draco starts casting healing spell after healing spell to make sure that Harry is in top shape.

“When Allison came back, gravely injured... I was so worried, Harry. I hate that you have to leave, but even more than that, I hate that I'm not there to watch your back.” Draco's voice trembles, just slightly, and Harry knows how deeply affected his husband is by all of it. It's not safe for Draco to leave, even less so than it is for most people—both due to his status as a healer and as Harry Potter's husband.

Since the NMO managed to invade St. Mungo’s, the only healers on the Rebellion side are Draco, Madam Pomfrey, three other healers who managed to escape the attack on St. Mungo's, and about twenty healing students.This means that the healers siding with the Rebellion are torn between both making sure that the Rebellion is safe and healthy, but also furthering the studies of the students. This leaves Draco stressed out of his mind, but there's nothing they can do about it. Until they can end all of this... This is how things have to be.

Draco presses another kiss against Harry’s lips.

“My parents have Teddy, and the other healers are dealing with the injured for the moment.” He gives Harry a sly look, one full of meaning. “We have some time for ourselves.”

Harry grins widely before he takes Draco's hand and presses a kiss to his knuckles.

“I think I know exactly how I want to spend that time,” he murmurs against the thin, soft skin of Draco's hand.

  


* * *

  


It's when they're lying in bed, Draco's naked body pressed against Harry's, and Harry closes his eyes, that he can pretend that nothing has changed—that everything is like it was before the NMO gained traction and started causing tragedy across Wizarding Britain.

Behind the darkness of his eyelids, everything seems as it always has. He feels the softness of the sheets, the warmth of Draco's slender body in his arms, and he takes in the gentle sound of his husband's breathing. Nothing here has changed, but as soon as he opens his eyes he sees the stone walls of the cave and the way the only light comes from magical fires... And he remembers everything that has changed and everything they've lost.

He knows that perhaps he should try to be optimistic, he should try to have hope. But he's not sure that he can. They fought Voldemort, and Harry thought that things were over after that. He thought that he would finally get to rest, that things in the Wizarding World had finally settled down.

He's not sure he can really survive going through all of it again. He doesn't know if he's capable of fighting for the rest of his life. Draco's presence is quite possibly the only thing that makes it bearable. He loves his friends, he loves his family... But this time they're not enough.

The only time Harry really even feels okay anymore, is in these quiet moments in the middle of the night holding Draco's body close to his.

Everything else just seems too heavy to deal with at times; only the simple pleasure of lying in bed with his husband helps Harry get through the days. All the fighting, all the bleeding, all of it is worth it just to get to come back to hold his husband.

He loves Teddy, and he loves his friends... But it's just not the same.

He kisses the nape of Draco’s neck and focuses on his breathing. Harry needs all the sleep he can get, because these are rough times and he knows they'll only get worse before they get better.

After all, the night is at its darkest just before the dawn.

  


* * *

  


Harry doesn't know what to think about the fact that somehow, some way, Andromeda Tonks is here. She just... came by. Or, well, not exactly. She found someone she knew was part of the rebellion, and convinced them that she needed to speak with their leaders.

He wasn't the one to interview her, the rest of them knew that he probably wouldn't be able to keep himself professional or even calm in front of her. Out of all of them, her betrayal still stings the worst.

Still, he listened in on what she had to say, and if it's true, it's going to mean some very bad things for the rebellion. Though, there's also the possibility that they will be able to turn it around.

If she's right about the fact that the NMO are planning to move a large group of healers to their headquarters, away from the locked-down St. Mungo's, then that is the perfect moment to strike to save and liberate those healers.

The problem is that they can't just take all of them right back to headquarters. They don't know every single healer’s actual alliance, and they can't trust that all of them are against what the NMO stands for. After all, people have made some strange decisions when it comes to which side to follow during these times.

This means, of course, but they need somewhere they can take the healers to _first_. Somewhere they can take them to make sure that they only bring the healers who are actually on their side to the headquarters.

And then comes a problem with how to deal with the ones who aren't on their side. They don't want to take prisoners, but allowing the NMO to have access to multiple healers is... tactically unsound as far as decisions go. There's a reason the NMO took St. Mungo’s under their control as quickly as possible, after all.

They're discussing the situation in the wider tactical group, not just the core leader group. They need more people to discuss this before they make a decision after all. That's when Neville brings up a plan but Harry wouldn't have thought of in a million years.

“Could we take them to Malfoy Manor first?" He gives a minute shrug. “It should be more than large enough to house all of those people, and unless I'm mistaken it's heavily warded?”

As one they all turn to the Malfoys, well, to Lucius and Narcissa. Draco sits next to Harry after all.

“It is indeed heavily warded," Lucius says as he strokes his chin. “So heavily warded, in fact, that only someone of the Malfoy line can step on those lands on their own. Narcissa has married into it, so she can do it, however... When it comes to bringing someone else onto the grounds... Well. It's not enough to be part of the line through marriage, you have to be of the blood itself."

“Well that's fine,” Draco says. “It just means that I will go with Harry.”

He crosses his arms across his chest and looks mulishly at everyone else by the table, as if daring them to disagree with him. Harry feels his stomach drop. He doesn't want to fight with Draco about this, but he realises this but he's going to have to.

“Sweetheart, you can't.”

All the blood drains from Draco's face and his eyes grow huge as he stares at Harry, with Harry can only assume is horror at Harry’s betrayal.

“I bloody well can! Just you try to stop me, Harry!”

“You know as well as I do why you have to stay here, Draco. This is bigger than just us. We can't lose you, too; we can't lose another healer.” The fact that Harry wants to keep him safe and sound back at base, to never have to fear losing him... that is entirely secondary.

Draco doesn't say anything, he just continues to look absolutely furious. He turns his head away from Harry and pulls away when Harry generally tries to touch his shoulder.

“It's not like we have many options though, is it?” Draco’s voice is snippy.

Harry is uncomfortably aware of that fact. Since he can't bring Draco with him, he's going to have to bring Lucius Malfoy. It's going to be uncomfortable, and Harry doesn't entirely trust Lucius. But they don't really have a choice at this point.

Silence spreads over the table, no one says anything for quite a while. Harry knows it's because they're all waiting for Draco to finally give in. No one wants Draco in a strop; he can be quite unbearable when he is.

“Just come back safe,” Draco whispers, voice so low that Harry almost doesn't hear it. “Both of you. Please, just come back safe.”

Harry shares a long look with Lucius Malfoy, and knows that they're thinking the same thing: they don't always agree, they don't like each other, but for Draco’s sake, they're both willing to do just about anything. Keeping each other safe is not much of a hardship, all things considered.

  


* * *

  


A team has been placed in Malfoy Manor, waiting for Harry and Lucius to get the healers through. They will make sure that no one tries to escape, and that anyone who needs help can get it.

Now it's up to Harry and Lucius to get the healers there in the first place.

They creep forward, both of them beneath the Invisibility Cloak, both of them having cast spells to make sure that their footsteps make no sound. Their bracelets have been set to be attuned to one another, so they'll be aware of where the other is without being able to see each other. If they get separated, the disillusion spells they’ll be casting will be extremely detrimental otherwise.

As they come closer to St. Mungo’s, it becomes obvious that Andromeda was telling the truth. The NMO _are_ moving all of the healers somewhere else.

Harry and Lucius share one glance and Lucius gives Harry a decisive nod.

They raise their wands.

Time to get this show on the road.

**Author's Note:**

> 🎵 This work is part of H/D Wireless, a song inspired, anon, Drarry fest with its home on tumblr! 
> 
> If you enjoyed this, shower our content creators with all the love you have to give by leaving kudos ❤️ and comments 💌 on their work!
> 
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